KEVIN E IL TEAM RAC41 COME CLOSE TO ACHIEVING THE FEAT AT SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS

The second round of the 2026 FIM Endurance World Championship took place on the legendary and demanding Spa-Francorchamps circuit. Defending his 2025 runner-up world title was La Spezia native Kevin Manfredi, who delivered yet another impressive performance: the Ligurian completed five stints of over 50 minutes each over the course of the eight-hour race.

It wasn't an easy weekend for the RAC41 Kaedear Dafy Honda team. The difficulties began in qualifying, when Kevin was involved in a massive crash along with eleven other riders due to oil left on the track by a rival. In the race, while the team was fully in contention for the Superstock category victory, a crash by teammate Takeshi during the fourth hour unfortunately compromised their plans for the top spot.

Kevin: "It was a complicated weekend. We faced extremely variable weather conditions, constantly switching between dry and wet; practically all sessions were affected by rain. Despite this, we were fast in every situation, and I'm very satisfied with my performance.

From the first stint, I had a great feeling: starting from ninth place, I managed to bring the team back into the lead of the race by the end of the first hour. We maintained the pace of the lead in the following sessions, until my teammate crashed, which dashed our hopes of a podium finish. Despite everything, we never gave up. The team did an incredible job repairing the bike and allowing us to get back on track. In the end, we finished twelfth in our class, salvaging fourth place in the championship and remaining just a few points off the top spot."

Kevin and the team were certainly hoping for a different outcome, especially after demonstrating the potential to win. However, endurance racing can be brutal, and nothing can be taken for granted until the checkered flag.

With the Belgian round behind us, our attention is already turned to the next highly anticipated round of the world championship: the legendary Suzuka 8 Hours in Japan, one of the most iconic, selective, and prestigious races in the entire international motorcycling scene.

Kevin thanks all the sponsors and technical partners for the 2026 season.